19+ Great Summer Business Ideas in 2023 (Updated)

Are you looking for a way to supplement your income during the summer? If that’s the case, we’ve analyzed and put up a couple of great summer business ideas that could make you a lot of money this summer!

The best part about this list of summer business ideas is that you don’t need much experience or money to get started.

Before we go any further, you should know that seasonal businesses are ideal for making extra money without the stress of running a full-time business. They are also a great option if you are thinking about starting your own business and want to test the waters.

Are you ready to start your own business? Whether you’re a college student or not, here are great business ideas for the summer!

Summer Seasonal Business Ideas

When starting your own business, there are numerous excellent small business ideas to consider. You can build a profitable business based on local needs, what tourists/travelers want, and other seasonal factors that cause high demand for specific services or products. We’ll look at some of the most promising business concepts to get you started.

Pool Cleaning

Offering pool maintenance and other services to pool owners in the area is a great business idea, especially during the summer when pools are used more frequently. During the summer, most pool owners are looking for extra help, making it easier to get clients in.

Summer Camps

A summer camp is an excellent option for small business owners looking for a purely seasonal business. A summer camp can be a profitable business idea for keeping children entertained during summer vacations. You can rent sports equipment and plan other activities to keep children occupied while providing them with a fun summer experience.

Souvenir Shop

If you’re looking for a low-cost business idea, consider starting a small souvenir shop. Buying cheap souvenir items in bulk is relatively cheap, and you can set up a small store as a flexible business model during the summer.

Local Event Planning and Execution

You can provide event planning and/or setup services in areas with many local events during the summer. This could include everything from conceptualizing the event to setting it up on the day of. Depending on the business opportunity and available resources, it may include event planning, transportation, equipment setup, and dismantling.

Food-based Businesses

Food-based businesses are a great summer business idea because they are popular, especially if they serve cold food quickly. Consider starting a food truck, such as an ice cream truck, if you want to make a small investment rather than going all-in on a restaurant. Food trucks have a simpler business structure to manage, and their costs are lower. More information, such as whether a business license is required and how to start your own ice cream truck business, can be found online.

Retail Store

Seasonal retail stores, such as a local grocery store, could be an easy business to start in the summer, especially if the surrounding area lacks options for seasonal items.

Farmer’s Market

Working together, you could start a small local organic farmer’s market if your area is known for local produce and products, or if residents have a need for fresh produce. The farmer’s market could be run by renting out space and turned into a weekly event. It can be a great way to raise awareness among residents and tourists about what the area has to offer, as well as a way for residents to get fresh produce.

Handmade Crafts and Artwork

Special skills like art and crafts are another way to earn money during the summer. For example, you can open an original arts and crafts store and sell your wares with relatively low material and product startup costs. Selling arts and crafts is an excellent business idea for female entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on their formal education and skills. You can also teach kids through workshops and day events, which is a great way to make money and keep kids busy during the summer.

Photography

If you want to supplement your income, consider starting a photography side business. This could include working with commercial clients like local businesses or photographing events like weddings and graduations.

Transportation

If transportation is scarce in your area, consider starting a business that provides transportation services. Taxis for personal and group travel, bus transportation from one area to another, and carpool services for the busy summer months could all be offered.

Car Wash

Car wash services are ideal for the summer months because acquiring all of the necessary equipment is simple without spending a lot of money up front. You can begin by providing car wash services to locals and neighbours and then expand in the area based on demand.

Golf Course for Kids

Consider opening a miniature golf course if you want to do something out of the ordinary. You could, for example, design a temporary mini-golf course for the summer or rent space and start your own business by designing a permanent mini-golf course. Create fun marketing materials for the course to entice customers and to generate more business during the summer.

Cleaning Services

Cleaning services are in high demand all year and are simple to start if you know where to get cheap and high-quality cleaning supplies. House cleaning, business or office cleaning, window washing, and even landscaping services for lawn and garden cleaning could all be part of a cleaning business.

Lawn Maintenance

During the summer, lawn maintenance is at its peak. However, after the lull of the winter season, it can be an unwelcome added responsibility for many homeowners.

If lawn maintenance isn’t included in their HOA fees, many homeowners will hire someone to do the work for them. This means that as the weather warms up, mowing and landscaping services will be in high demand.

You can capitalize on this demand by providing lawn mowing, mulching, and general landscaping services. To get started, all you need is a lawnmower and a few other tools.

Consider offering weekly subscription plans to ensure consistent payment and recurring revenue. You can even expand your services to include weekly yard maintenance for commercial properties and apartment communities.

Tour Guide

Being a local walking tour guide is a great option if you live in a city with a lot of tourist attractions and/or history. All you need to do is brush up on your city facts and history to lead tour groups around town.

It’s critical that you can physically handle the demands of leading a walking tour group. This is a business that relies heavily on your physical fitness. You should also enjoy conversing with others and answering questions.

When you’re ready, you can sign up for sites like Tours by Locals to work as a tour guide in your city or almost anywhere in the world!

Great Low-Cost Summer Business Ideas

Group Fitness Classes on the Spot

Though most people resolve to become healthier and more fit in January, some people wish to continue their health journey into the summer. Summer is unique in that you can hold pop-up group fitness classes outside.

This is yet another low-cost option because all you have to do is organize your class at a nearby park or even a beach. You can advertise on social media and charge a small registration fee to participants.

To market yourself as a fitness instructor, make sure you take the necessary classes to become certified. Once you have the necessary credentials, you can use them to provide in-home services to some high-end clients.

Pet & House Sitting

Families are busy travelling for summer vacation and visiting loved ones during the summer. This means their homes are frequently left unattended and unmaintained for weeks. Furthermore, their pets may be left alone or in a boarding house for extended periods of time.

This isn’t ideal, and it can be costly. This is where house and pet sitting comes in handy.

House sitters are paid to look after someone’s home and pets and perform maintenance duties while the owner is away. That is why it is ideal for the summer, when many families are on vacation.

Sites such as Trusted House Sitters let you create a profile in order to find house-sitting jobs in your area. Most house sitters charge $25-$45 per day, with some charging more depending on responsibility, according to HouseSitters.com.

Pet Walking

Even if pet owners aren’t travelling during the summer, they may be preoccupied with work and other obligations. This could imply that they fail to fulfill their responsibility of walking their dogs.

If you own or love dogs, this is an excellent problem for which to develop a business solution. In your spare time, you can walk dogs in your neighbourhood, providing them with much-needed exercise and entertainment while also assisting their owner.

Sites like Rover.com make it simple to connect with other “pawrents” who are looking for someone to check on, walk, feed, or board their dog while they are away. Depending on your location, you could earn up to $40 per day or more.

The benefit of this business is that you can service multiple clients at once. This translates to more money in less time!

Airbnb Hosting

Hotels are no longer the preferred lodging option in most major cities. Instead, travellers have grown accustomed to the concept of using Airbnb for their short-term housing needs. In many cases, they provide more amenities and conveniences than a hotel at a lower cost.

If you live in a popular tourist destination, you can rent out your empty bedroom or entire house to travellers via Airbnb. Of course, before embarking on this business venture, you should be comfortable with strangers in your home or rental properties.

Before jumping in, ensure you fully understand the ins and outs of Airbnb. Otherwise, it can be a profitable business that operates all year.

Outdoor House Cleaning

Summer is typically when homeowners make home improvements and do some cleaning and decluttering. This desire to organize isn’t limited to the interior of the home. This includes the exterior of houses.

Summer is an excellent time to offer cleaning services such as pressure washing, window washing, and gutter and roof cleaning. These are all tasks that most homeowners despise but know must be completed.

This is yet one of the many great low-cost summer business ideas where you will only require a few supplies to complete your tasks. Because this type of work may require you to climb ladders and roofs, you’ll need the proper safety equipment and insurance.

Interior House Paint

Interior painting is another popular task during the summer months when other home improvements are being completed. It’s a great summer business idea not only for this reason, but also because it’s low-cost and doesn’t require any special training.

Painting simply requires the right tools—brushes, ladders, tarps, tape, and so on—as well as some knowledge of how to paint evenly. You can learn some techniques for becoming more efficient by watching YouTube and practising.

One way to reduce the time it takes to paint so that you can serve more clients is to enlist the assistance of family members. You could also hire college or high school students looking for work during their summer vacation.

Music Classes

Music lessons are another popular summer activity for children. If you can play an instrument or sing, you can easily start a business teaching music.

You can teach your students to play instruments or even sing from the comfort of your own home. You can also travel to their home to provide lessons for an additional fee. It all depends on your level of comfort.

Children aren’t the only ones who want to learn to play an instrument or improve their singing abilities. Do not limit yourself to children. Promote your company to aspiring adult musicians as well.

Entertainment for Parties

Summer is always jam-packed with children’s birthday parties, barbecues, family reunions, and house parties. Some of these gatherings will undoubtedly necessitate some form of entertainment.

The possibilities are virtually limitless. You could be a DJ or MC, or you could do something creative like face painting or balloon art. Your efforts will be well rewarded as long as you can keep guests entertained and having a good time.

Travel Advisor

As the weather warms, there will be an increase in global travel. Why not make someone’s life easier by organizing their travel?

Travel agents handle the logistics of booking transportation, lodging, and excursions for an individual or group of individuals.

If you’re a travel expert with recommendations for various destinations, this is a great way to supplement your income. If you continue to get clients throughout the year, this could turn into a year-round business.

Boat Tour

Whereas water taxis are designed to transport you from one location to another quickly, boat tours are designed to showcase the local scenery. If you own a boat, you can give tourists boat tours to give them a different perspective on the area.

Boat tours are especially popular in areas with a lot of beautiful scenery and sea life to show off, such as dolphins. Consider it earning money from something you already enjoy doing.

Most boat tour companies have a small kiosk where visitors can pay to participate in a scheduled boat tour. This, of course, would need to be near a boat dock so they could load the boat. Consider collaborating with local hotels to promote your services to guests.

Boat Cleaning

Boats must be cleaned and maintained in order to last. However, those who own them may not have the time or desire to clean them. They instead hire boat cleaning services to do the work for them.

Offering boat cleaning services is another profitable business venture. You can clean and detail boats, with different packages available depending on the size of the boat and the amount of cleaning required.

Boat Rental

Maybe you have a boat that you don’t use. If that’s the case, you can rent out your boat to locals who don’t want to incur the financial burden of boat ownership. Even better, you can rent out your boat to tourists who want to go fishing or simply navigate the ocean.

Renting out your property does come with risks, so make sure you have a solid business plan in place to prepare for the unexpected. Having insurance and requiring the signing of an agreement waiving your liability is a great way to mitigate financial risk.

Beach Equipment Rentals

If tourists are travelling to beaches from out of town, it is likely that they will not be able to bring a large amount of beach equipment with them. They will almost certainly need to rent equipment to make their time at the beach more enjoyable.

Offering beach equipment rental is an excellent way to capitalize on this demand during the summer. Consider renting beach chairs, umbrellas, towing wagons, towels, and other items! Maintain an accurate inventory of your equipment to avoid losing money on unreturned items.

Errand Service & Personal Assistance

Running errands and working as a personal assistant can be profitable summer jobs. There are many people who are too busy to do things like pick up clothes from the dry cleaners, grocery shop, or even take their children to various activities.

You’ll need a reliable mode of transportation and a cell phone to contact clients for this business. If you’re organized, this can be a simple job where you can work with multiple clients.

Swimming Lessons

During the summer, swimming lessons will be in high demand. If you can swim, you can charge to teach others how to do the same. Lessons can be held at a nearby swimming pool.

This is especially popular with young children, but adults can also benefit from swimming lessons. Perhaps creating a niche for adults will be even more profitable.

Sell Homemade Hair & Skincare Products

Making and selling homemade hair and body care products is an excellent small business opportunity. More people prefer natural and organic beauty products to chemical-laden commercial products.

Begin with simple items such as body butter, bath bombs, and body oils. You can add more products as your business grows and you learn more. You can always find free recipes online!

Furniture Flipping

Furniture flipping can be a profitable and enjoyable business venture. Because it’s summer, you’re more likely to find items as flea markets open for the season and yard sales beckon.

This business will necessitate some effort and time in order to locate and repair items. Vintage items can sell for hundreds of dollars more than they cost, making the flip worthwhile.

Great Summer Business Ideas: References

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